Some of the businesses destroyed by the Mount Airy fire could open in temporary quarters within a week.
Rob Scranton, owner of the 80-year-old Bohn Building consumed by the blaze early Sunday on Main Street, said he hopes to house up to seven shops inside trailers a few blocks away. But a trailer may not provide enough space for a dining area and kitchen for the two restaurants damaged by the fire.
Three of the shops, interior design stores Retro Metro and Inspiration Point and hair salon Do or Dye, had been tenants in Scranton?s building, which has been razed.
“You would think people would just give up after what they went through,” Scranton said. “They want to come back. They don?t want to come back a year from now. They want to come back now.”
Scarnton said Joanne Sapp, owner of Deja Vu, a teenagers? clothing store, hardly cracked a smile since Sunday, but beamed when Scranton discussed her possibly opening next week.
Firefighters sprayed about 1.8 million gallons of water over several hours to extinguish the blaze, which ignited in a brick oven in Laurienzo?s Brick Oven Cafe at about 4 a.m. Sunday, fire officials said.
Donations to help pay for the trailers reached $2,300 by Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
The same company that set up a makeshift center in 2002 after Hurricane Isabel tore through La Plata would do the work in Mount Airy.
Main Street had been gaining headway in revitalizing the historic downtown area, after years of work, when the blaze broke out.
“If we?re going to rebuild the downtown, we?ve got to do something dramatic and quick,” Sapp said. “We?ve got to keep this momentum going.”
To donate money
Send donations for Mount Airy fire victims to:
P.O. Box 53
Mount Airy, MD 21771
or drop them off at any New Windsor State Bank in Maryland
